In an age of mechanized machinery, actions, and reactions we living and breathing human beings forget that there is a natural world beyond us. This week I decided to take a small part of my time in order to become a little more in tune with what was right outside my doorstep, the backyard which I had not stepped into for months. So, like Buddha who once sat under the fig tree, I decided to sit under my orange tree hoping one would not fall on me and learn about my habitat.
In the time that I spent under the orange tree I learned that in my immediate vicinity there would be no way that I could avoid human intervention and neither could the living organisms present. Instead of being a total hindrance many of our man-made items actually became a part of the abiotic environment. Around the base of our tree are red bricks which cordon the area. However, small insects such as ants used it as a passageway to get to their destination. In addition, it actually seemed that some species were calling those bricks home.
While I tried to make my impact as minimal as possible with every step I took there would be certain insects mainly grasshoppers which would jump up from the grass to escape the crushing weight of a human. Another creature that I noticed was the much dreaded cockroach. Many months back we had a professional apply fluids around our house after which we did not witness cockroaches nor other "pests" within the confines of our home or even in our front/back yards. However, where there is one there are many and I wonder if we are about to have yet another chemical attack.
There were also some species which I expected to find but I did not. The first was worms. I am aware that worms are necessary for the soil to have good nutrition; however, in the time I spent sitting and gazing over the soil I did not find any worms. Another creature which I thankfully did not see were groundhogs or any other creature capable of making holes. While there are about 1-2 holes present in my backyard near the vicinity of my orange tree, there was no presence of the species that made them.
Looking at other biotic factors I noticed what the orange tree itself had to offer. Of course the tree itself is living and there are marvelous white features on it known as flowers. However, in addition to the beautiful white flowers I noticed some leaves had small white spots on them. At first I believed it to be bird droppings and when I later looked closer I realized that they were not. After I regained access to human technology and the internet I discovered that this may be a type of fungus. Since, I live in Loma Linda this is actually not uncommon and many other households would have the same type of problem. Alas, it is a problem that should be taken care of otherwise our oranges, which are among the best I have had, might face problems. Looking at the ground there was a single orange that fallen some time ago. Inside the orange there was a type of black fly which, again looking at the internet, may be fungus gnats a type of fly. Obviously if a fruit is decomposing then there is going to be bacteria which is an addition to the biotic factors of the yeard.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/OrangeBloss_wb.jpg
While I may have not found the answers to the universe during my time in the back yard I sure did enjoy the fresh air and the citrus aroma which flew with the wind. A beautiful bird with a blue tail landed on the top of a fence not close to me, unfortunately I was not able to take a picture of it but I was able to enjoy its company and was made aware that due tot the presence of so many different types of organisms such as insects and birds, at the very least my backyard was alive and possibly even thriving. I had producers such as the orange tree and grass present. I had primary consumers such as insects present. Birds could be considered secondary and even tertiary consumers. Finally, we had detrivores such as bacteria present.
So to sum up my experience some of the abiotic and biotic features present in my back yard are:
Abiotic:
-Plastic
-Red Bricks
-Air & temperature
-Rocks
-Dirt
-Sunlight
-Fence
-Water Hose
Biotic
-Grass
-3 Spiders
-1 Cockroach
-5 Grasshoppers
-7 Birds
-10s of Ants
-Orange tree
-Bacteria
-Fungus
-Oranges
The picture above were not original but a accurate description of what I saw. They were provided by:
In the time that I spent under the orange tree I learned that in my immediate vicinity there would be no way that I could avoid human intervention and neither could the living organisms present. Instead of being a total hindrance many of our man-made items actually became a part of the abiotic environment. Around the base of our tree are red bricks which cordon the area. However, small insects such as ants used it as a passageway to get to their destination. In addition, it actually seemed that some species were calling those bricks home.
While I tried to make my impact as minimal as possible with every step I took there would be certain insects mainly grasshoppers which would jump up from the grass to escape the crushing weight of a human. Another creature that I noticed was the much dreaded cockroach. Many months back we had a professional apply fluids around our house after which we did not witness cockroaches nor other "pests" within the confines of our home or even in our front/back yards. However, where there is one there are many and I wonder if we are about to have yet another chemical attack.
There were also some species which I expected to find but I did not. The first was worms. I am aware that worms are necessary for the soil to have good nutrition; however, in the time I spent sitting and gazing over the soil I did not find any worms. Another creature which I thankfully did not see were groundhogs or any other creature capable of making holes. While there are about 1-2 holes present in my backyard near the vicinity of my orange tree, there was no presence of the species that made them.
Looking at other biotic factors I noticed what the orange tree itself had to offer. Of course the tree itself is living and there are marvelous white features on it known as flowers. However, in addition to the beautiful white flowers I noticed some leaves had small white spots on them. At first I believed it to be bird droppings and when I later looked closer I realized that they were not. After I regained access to human technology and the internet I discovered that this may be a type of fungus. Since, I live in Loma Linda this is actually not uncommon and many other households would have the same type of problem. Alas, it is a problem that should be taken care of otherwise our oranges, which are among the best I have had, might face problems. Looking at the ground there was a single orange that fallen some time ago. Inside the orange there was a type of black fly which, again looking at the internet, may be fungus gnats a type of fly. Obviously if a fruit is decomposing then there is going to be bacteria which is an addition to the biotic factors of the yeard.
http://www.olyrose.org/images/Anthracnose-2.jpg
While I may have not found the answers to the universe during my time in the back yard I sure did enjoy the fresh air and the citrus aroma which flew with the wind. A beautiful bird with a blue tail landed on the top of a fence not close to me, unfortunately I was not able to take a picture of it but I was able to enjoy its company and was made aware that due tot the presence of so many different types of organisms such as insects and birds, at the very least my backyard was alive and possibly even thriving. I had producers such as the orange tree and grass present. I had primary consumers such as insects present. Birds could be considered secondary and even tertiary consumers. Finally, we had detrivores such as bacteria present.
So to sum up my experience some of the abiotic and biotic features present in my back yard are:
Abiotic:
-Plastic
-Red Bricks
-Air & temperature
-Rocks
-Dirt
-Sunlight
-Fence
-Water Hose
Biotic
-Grass
-3 Spiders
-1 Cockroach
-5 Grasshoppers
-7 Birds
-10s of Ants
-Orange tree
-Bacteria
-Fungus
-Oranges
The picture above were not original but a accurate description of what I saw. They were provided by:
http://www.olyrose.org/images/Anthracnose-2.jpg
and
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/OrangeBloss_wb.jpg
The oranges and orange blossoms in your yard are absolutely gorgeous! There is so much life that surrounds one tree! Your pictures were beautiful! Keep it up!
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